Apple announced today that they are delaying the release of the iPad until April. When initially unveiled on January 27th, the release date was loosely set for “late March”. Don’t panic, however, if you’ve preordered one or were planning on heading to your local Apple store to pick one up the second they’re available, you don’t have to wait long. The officially set release date when you’ll start seeing the iPad on store shelves is April 3rd, which isn’t too far of a stretch from their original “late March” guesstimates. Apple has not specified what caused the delay in release, so any information you see elsewhere is still speculation at this point.

In case you’ve fallen off the face of the Earth and haven’t seen this all over the place already, Apple today introduced their newest product: The iPad. This is indeed, as you may have suspected, the long rumored tablet that has been getting so much hype over the last several months and from the looks of it so far, the hype was justified. Starting at $499, it offers web browsing, email, photos, video, functions as an iPod with iTunes, is already compatible with 140,000 Apps for the iPod Touch and iPhone, introduces a brand-new type of eReader from Apple called iBooks, has integrated maps, and much much more.

There’s really no way that I can do it justice, so head on over to Apple’s website to find out more.

For those of you who are eagerly awaiting the Apple event tomorrow, here’s a roundup of what you might possibly be able to expect, if the plethora of rumors end up to be based in truth.

• What do I call it?
  There are plenty of names floating around for the rumored Tablet, but here are the likely possibilities: Apple Slate, iSlate, iPad, iTablet, MacTablet, or TabletMac. For some reason, MacSlate hasn’t been mentioned, although that seems to fit well with their laptop line.
• What will it do?
  If the hype is any indicator, this baby will be curing cancer and aids with a single use. In reality, however, it will likely have a multi-touch screen, offer high definition video for a better mobile movie and TV experience, be a fully-featured eReader, possibly allow iPhone/iPod Touch Apps, full web browsing, and likely much more. If the iPod Touch and MacBook were to mate, this would be their lovechild.
• How will it look?
  Rumor has it this tablet will be sporting a shiny new 10.1″ multi-touch screen, similar to that of the iPhone, but bigger. There have also been rumors of a smaller 7″ screened version, but that is about as likely as an iPhone Mini. Chances are, it will have the appearance of a large iPod Touch.
• When can I get my hands on one?
  Analyst Yair Reiner for Oppenheimer predicts that it will be ready to ship in late March or early April of this year, but other analysts have predicted as soon as February, although that seems less likely.
• How much will this set me back?
  Most guesstimates say the price will be somewhere around $1000, but different analysts have said as high as $1500 or even as low as $700. Thankfully, we don’t have much more to wait before we know.

That pretty much covers the important stuff, but by the end of the day tomorrow all will hopefully be clear.

As with pretty much every tablet rumor to date, this is pure speculation, but Apple has apparently recently acquired the domain name iSlate.com which has fueled the tablet rumor frenzy machine in to overdrive with name speculation. This seems like a perfectly logical name choice for Apple, but if the tablet rumors are true we’ll know quite soon.

The following record was what the whois info for islate.com used to show, although it now points to a domain registrations and trademark protections company named MarkMonitor, which Apple has used in the past.

The news on the Apple vine today comes from Yair Reiner, an analyst with Oppenheimer & Co., who is making the prediction that Apple will begin ramping up production of a long-rumored Tablet in Februrary, to prepare for a March or April release. His report claims that the tablet will include a 10.1″ multi-touch LCD display using LTPS LCD technology, which is the same tech used on the iPhone.

Among the juiciest of the new rumors is his claim is that Apple has been contacting publishers to discuss a deal that would allow them to release their content through online stores, such as those for Amazon’s Kindle. According to Reiner, “Contacts in the U.S. tell us Apple is approaching book publishers with a very attractive proposal for distributing their content.” He claims that “Apple will split revenue 30/70 (Apple/publisher); give the same deal to all comers; and not request exclusivity. We believe the typical Kindle split is 50/50, rising to 30/70 if Kindle is given ebook exclusivity.”

As with any Apple rumor, nothing is written in stone and only Apple knows for sure what its plans are.

A few years ago, all of the Mac Tablet rumors began circulating when a third-party company named Axiotron began selling a heavily modified MacBook which they trademarked as the TabletMac. They’ve since changed the name to the Axiotron ModBook, but the end-result remains more or less the same. Recently, however, it was uncovered that the trademark “TabletMac” has been transferred to the control of Apple. Keep in mind that this in absolutely no way means that Apple plans to actually name a future product the “TabletMac”, but what’s interesting is that they’re interested in the term and want control over a tablet-related Mac product. Hopefully more news on the long-rumored Mac Tablet will be revealed by Apple soon.

If you’re one of those people who sits at their computer sucking down cigarette after cigarette, you might want to think twice about your habit. Reports coming in from The Consumerist are saying that Mac users are be declined for service due to the “biohazard” created by smoking near your computer. At least two of the people who had been turned down for Apple Care because of second hand smoke, one with a MacBook and one with an iMac. They took their case all the way up to Steve Jobs himself and were still denied service.

In Apple’s defense, I have personally had to repair many computers whose insides were caked with heavy, sticky, brown nicotine-laden dust, and I can attest that smoking near your computer certainly can cause as much harm to it as it does to yourself.

Apple posted a teaser ad to it’s website today announcing that they will officially be having a Black Friday sale, although with no official word on what the sale might actually be. The image to the right implies that just about everything they make will in one way or another be included in the sale, but there is no concrete word over the accuracy of the flier circulating last week.

The web page itself gives little detail,

Come back to the Apple Online Store the day after Thanksgiving for a special one-day-only holiday shopping event. You’ll find dozens of great iPod, iPhone, and Mac gift ideas — all with free shipping.

Mark your calendar now. And until then, start your research by browsing the Apple Online Store to find iPod, iPhone, and Mac gifts for everyone on your list.

If you’re shopping for new Apple products and accessories, be sure to check back with TAV or the Apple Store this Friday for what are usually the best deals of the year.

The word on the apple vine today comes courtesy of the Boy Genius Report. If the image below is accurate, you can look forward to 30% off all iPods (except the iPhone and iPod Shuffle), 25% off all Macs, and 15% off all Apple accessories, software, and other hardware. This is obviously still just categorized as speculation, so be patient and wait for the official word from Apple some time next week before getting your heart set on that new Apple product.

The Mini DisplayPort (mDP) that has been present on Macs everywhere since its introduction in 2008 as an Apple-designed miniature version of the DisplayPort. This small little port on the back of your Mac can now celebrate however, as it is officially official. The Video Electronics Standards Association announced yesterday that the little port is now a part of the official DisplayPort standard. To help aid with the adoption of its new standard, Apple is even offering no-charge licensing of the Mini DisplayPort, so other manufacturers can implement it in to their own products. Now you can look forward to a wider variety of monitors that are natively compatible with your Mac.